Massive landslide rocks Utah copper mine

Tim Heffernan at BoingBoing explains how a massive landslide at the world's largest open-pit copper mine in Utah is a reminder that "sometimes it's still the earth itself that shakes the world."

The lost equipment was worth tens of millions of dollars, but much more significant is the fact that the landslide has shut Bingham Canyon down for an as-yet undetermined length of time. Much more significant because Bingham Canyon is not just another copper mine. Physically, it is the largest in the world, and it is among the most productive. Each year it supplies about 17 percent of U.S. copper consumption and 1 percent of the world’s. When a cog that big loses its teeth, the whole global economic machine goes clunk.